Schreyer: "Once Upon a Town" shares patch of history with timeless values

By Dorothy Schreyer For the Journal-Advocate

Posted:
09/29/2012 08:35:31 AM MDT

"Once Upon a Town" by Bob Greene is not a new book to our library -- it was actually published in 2002 -- but the story of people reaching out and helping those that were in need is timeless.

"Once Upon a Town" is the story of the canteen that was located at the railroad depot in North Platte, Neb., during World War II; it ran every day from Christmas 1941 until the end of the war in 1945. From the first train through the depot at 5 a.m. until the last one close to midnight, each train was met by volunteers, women and children and given everything from fruit to homemade cookies, sandwiches, coffee and tobacco.

During the 1940's North Platte was a town of about 12,000 people, but they pulled together with the surrounding communities to pull off this amazing achievement. While the food and other items that were gifts to the servicemen and a the few service women passing though the town train depot were appreciated, it was the gesture that was remembered and talked about by the soldiers for years to come. They told stories back and forth among themselves and they wrote home to their mothers and fathers. Many of the soldiers were just teenagers after all, away from home for the first time. Here they were, lonely, far from home, on trains headed for who knows where and suddenly they were being greeted by groups of women, men and children showing them how much they were appreciated and telling them thank you.

The canteen really happened by chance.

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A rumor went through town shortly after Pearl Harbor that D Company of the Nebraska National Guard was going to be passing through on their way to the West Coast. With no formal announcement or organizing, approximately 500 people showed up at the depot with food, cigarettes, letters and love, all for the chance to see their loved ones for a few moments. But as it turned out, it was the D Company of the KANSAS National Guard. There were some awkward moments, but then people figured that these soldiers needed to be shown love too!

It was estimated that more than six million soldiers passed through North Platte, each one met and greeted at the train station. Troop trains only stopped for 10 minutes as they passed through, but those few minutes were made the most of!

Sometimes the young women would put their names and addresses in with sandwiches or other items they gave out and offered to write to the soldiers. Other times, after striking up conversations with the servicemen as they served them, they would be asked if they could write to a specific serviceman; letters took weeks or months to arrive, but served to keep them in touch with a little of home. There were times that the volunteers even helped to mail some of the first letters home, written on the train and entrusted to a stranger at the depot.

One woman interviewed for the book said everyone flirted, but it was simple back in that era: There were smiles, talking with them, and maybe a little eye rolling -- after all, a lot of these girls were 14, 15 and 16.

Greene was able to not only track down people who had helped with the canteen, but also men who had passed through town. He found letters written to the North Platte Telegraph from mothers and soldiers thanking the town.

I remember several years ago watching a Charles Kuralt special of his "On the Road" program, and there was a segment on there about the canteen. For me the canteen is personal; I had aunts who lived in North Platte and were some of the volunteers. One was even in some of the pictures on that long-ago television special.

While war is never pretty, at this place and time in history did bring people together, from the large town of North Platte to the little towns of the surrounding area, like Wellfleet, Sutherland, Wallace, Hershey or Brady. Women would give things that were hard for them to come by and share; their turn might be only one day every month or so, but they did it without complaint and were happy to be able to help someone else's son.

On Oct. 29, at 7 p.m. the Sterling Public Library will be having a program, "What Is Happening At Home," a look at what was going on in the Sterling area during this time. We will be talking with some of our own local people and their remembrances from those days. This program is in conjunction with the Northern Colorado Common Read Program, which this year is featuring the book "Unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrand, the author of "Seabiscuit." There are book discussions, movies and other programs here and in other northern Colorado libraries from Oct. 1 through Nov. 12. Please stop by the library for a flyer of these events that are planned and join us on the Oct. 29; I even heard there may be food. By the way, do you know that it was during this time that one of our favorite comfort foods came about? (Hint -- today you can buy it in a blue box!)

RE-1 Valley School District has announced its policy for determining eligibility of children who may receive free and reduced price meals served under the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Program.
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